Anything & Everything About Movies

85th Annual Academy Award Nominations

Emma Stone and Seth MacFarlane announced the nominees for the 85th Annual Academy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. this morning

There is no doubt that this year was a good year for movies. There were breakout directors; poignant, against-type performances; the usual heavyweights giving us brand new performances to think and rave about. It was easy, then, to predict who was going to be nominated for a coveted Academy Award by the end of the year.

Steven Spielberg’s epic “Lincoln” leads the Oscar race with 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” came in a close second with 11 nominations. Tied for third were Tom Hooper’s “Les Miserables” and David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” with eight nominations each.

Below is the list of Oscar nominees announced by the Academy this morning. Were there any surprising snubs or recognition in your opinion?

I wasn’t surprised by any of these choices by the Academy except for Amour, and that’s only because I hadn’t heard of it and still have yet to see it. I will say that Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty were great films whose reviews I will be posting sooner rather than later.

I haven’t seen The Master or Flight, but given the two actors nominated for those films, I don’t doubt they both deserve to be nominated. Personally, I think Bradley Cooper winning is a long shot, but I enjoyed his performance. It was a pleasant surprise to watch him in a heavy role like that. Daniel Day-Lewis is definitely the one to beat in this category.

The obvious snub in this category was Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty. That story could have been messy and disorganized, but she made it easy to watch and understand. That was the biggest surprise for me, but I’m thinking Ang Lee is taking this one home anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Cristoph Waltz in Django, but it kind of seemed like he was reprising the role that won him this Oscar back in 2010. What’s interesting is that all five of these nominees have won in this category before, so it’ll be fun to see these guys duke it out for a repeat.

It seemed like Anne Hathaway might have been snubbed by the Academy since she only appeared in Les Miserables for 20 minutes or so, but every minute she was in the film was incredible. She’s obviously my personal favorite, but I don’t know if there’s any clear prediction as to who will win in this category.

I’ll be honest. I don’t watch many animated features, but Brave was a big disappointment. I’ll count that one out of contention for sure.

Writing – Adapted Screenplay:Argo – Written by Chris TerrioBeasts of the Southern Wild – Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh ZeitlinLife of Pi – Written by David MageeLincoln – Written by Tony KushnerSilver Linings Playbook – Written by David O. Russell

Writing – Original Screenplay:Amour – Written by Michael HanekeDjango Unchained – Written by Quentin TarantinoFlight – Written by John GatinsMoonrise Kingdom – Written by Wes Anderson & Roman CoppolaZero Dark Thirty – Written by Mark Boal

I am biased towards Quentin Tarantino, because the dialogue in his screenplays never fail to surprise me. It’s always inventive, smart, and fun. Moonrise Kingdom was classic Anderson-Coppola, but I don’t know that it deserves to win over the others. Zero Dark Thirty was an amazing film and navigated through a story that could have been a disaster with ease and clarity. Still not sure who deserves to win.

Music – Original Song:
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice – Music & Lyrics by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted– Music by Walter Murphy; Lyrics by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi – Music by Mychael Danna; Lyrics by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall – Music & Lyrics by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from Les Miserables – Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg & Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

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